Posts Tagged ‘Discoveries’

Researchers at the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) have published findings on the role of epigenetics in the control of puberty in females. The paper, published in the early online edition of Nature Neuroscience, explains how an epigenetic mechanism operating in the hypothalamus can regulate the timing of puberty. Using female rats, the researchers were able to determine that a group of proteins, called Polycomb Group (PcG) proteins, inhibit the activity of a gene known as Kiss1. When PcG protein levels … Read More

OHSU researcher Margo Haygood, Ph.D., and collaborators from the Philippine Mollusk Symbiont International Cooperative Biodiversity Group have recently discovered two unexpected sources for new antibiotics and painkillers. In a paper published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers describe how the bacteria used by shipworms to convert wood into food produce a powerful antibiotic. According to Dr. Haygood, finding new sources of antibiotics is critical because current antibiotics are … Read More

Imagine knowing that your child is at risk for inheriting a genetic condition. Now imagine being able to fix the genetic defect before the child is even born. This may sound like something out of science fiction, but we’re one step closer to it being reality thanks to researchers here at Oregon Health & Science University. Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Ph.D., associate scientist in the Division of Reproductive & Developmental Sciences at the Oregon National Primate Research … Read More

OHSU Department of Biomedical Engineering researchers have developed a new technique that can determine the mass of a microscopic particle just by its appearance. An article detailing the work, headed by biomedical engineering postdoctoral fellow Kevin Phillips, Ph.D., was published this month in the Physical Review Letter. The new technique, called tomographic bright field imaging or TBFI, will allow researchers to perform mass measurements on a cellular level using standard laboratory microscopes. Other OHSU researchers … Read More

Over the years, scientists have developed a myriad of vaccines, some of which have eradicated the world’s most dangerous diseases. So why is an AIDS vaccine still so elusive? New research by OHSU’s Louis Picker, M.D., published online in Nature Medicine, explains. Dr. Picker likens our search for an AIDS vaccine to the tale of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’: “The field was looking for a vaccine that was ‘not too hot,’ or ‘not too … Read More

A new study by researchers at the OHSU School of Dentistry advances our understanding of how a protein, TDP-43, impacts gene expression in neurodegenerative diseases like ALS. The researchers altered levels of TDP-43 in fruit flies to directly compare too much versus too little of the protein. Using massively parallel sequencing, they found that loss of TDP-43 results in widespread gene activation and altered splicing. Over expression resulted in decreased gene expression–a finding contrary to … Read More

A new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that 63 percent of multiple myeloma patients have a reduced risk of disease progression or death if treated with lenalidomide (Revlimid®) following a stem cell transplant. The study was co-authored by Richard Mariarz, MD, medical director of the Adult Stem Cell Transplantation Program & Center for Hematologic Malignancies at the Knight Cancer Institute. Read the OHSU News Release to learn more.

Two OHSU researchers, Fay Horak, Ph.D., professor of neurology, and Robert Peterka, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical engineering, were recently recognized by the American Physiological Society for having highly cited publications in the Journal of Neurophysiology. Dr. Horak’s paper, “Central programming of postural movements: Adaptation to altered support-surface configurations,” was one of the top ten cited papers from 1980-1989, and Dr. Peterka’s, “Sensorimotor integration in human postural control,” was one of the top ten from 2000 to 2011. … Read More

A recent clinical trial involving researchers from OHSU’s Casey Eye Institute comparing two drugs used to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has shown that both Lucentis and Acastin are nearly equally as effective despite the fact that Avastin costs a fraction of what Lucentis costs. These findings were published this week in the medical journal Ophthalmology. A single dose of Lucentis costs approximately $2,000 whereas one dose of Avastin is around $50. Both drugs are … Read More

In 2011, OHSU’s Mother-Baby Unit stopped routine distribution of pacifiers to breastfeeding newborns in accordance with recommendations by the Joint Commission and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Their goal was to increase the number of infants in the unit who were breastfed only and received no supplemental formula. What happened, though, was quite the opposite. When the no-pacifier policy was implemented, the percent of exclusively breastfed infants dropped from 79 to 68 percent. During the … Read More